Tong Il and Chang Hon

mcmillintkd

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Please excuse my intrusion. I understand just how limited time we all
have. I am a 43 year old university student. I had decided that is
was time in life to finish. I hope to be through my program at the end
of the summer. I am also a 1st dan in Taekwon Do although this
inquiry is from a university student rather then a TKD student. I
have a professor that is a 3rd dan ITF TKD (though I am unclear as
to what branch). He assigned the topic of Tong Il for a fairly
lengthy paper. I have exhausted all academic sources and most readily
available TKD sources.

Tong Il would not have been my first choice for a paper on Taekwon Do
since it is in my distant future at the moment. It was assigned so I
will give it my all. The information on this tul is limited (as it
seems to be on most of the blackbelt tuls). I wish I had better
information on everything after Chung Mu.

I know the standard definition of Tong Il.

Tong Il denotes the unification of Korea which has been divided into two.
The diagram represents the homogenous race.

I have the definition of why there is 24 forms.

The Reason for 24 Patterns
The life of a human being, perhaps 100 years, can be considered as a
day when compared with eternity.Therefore, we mortals are no more than
simple travelers who pass by the eternal years of an eon in a day. It
is evident that no one can live more than a limited amount of time.
Nevertheless, most people foolishly enslave themselves to materialism
as if they could live for thousands of years. And some people strive
to bequeath a good spiritual legacy for coming generations, in this
way, gaining immortality. Obviously, the spirit is perpetual while
material is not; therefore, what we can do to leave behind something
for the welfare of mankind is, perhaps, the most important thing in
our lives.

Here I leave Taekwon-Do for mankind as a trace of man of the late 20th
century. The 24 patterns represent 24 hours, one day, or all my life.
The name of the pattern, the number of movements, and the diagrammatic
symbol of each pattern symbolizes either heroic figures in Korean
history or instances relating to historical events.
General Choi, Hong Hi

I have academic papers that I can use to support the concept of a
unified Korea. I have non-TKD related information about the Korean
homogenous race.

I have been told that the certain moves have meaning such as:

#1 = 1 Country
#2 = Divided
#3 Suddenly attacked

#38 = Breaking the 38th Parallel.

The different stamping moves denotes the frustration over the country
being divided.

I have been told by different GMs that Tong Il is:

1. The last form and to be considered the last form.

or

2. Tong Il is the summation of all of one's TKD training.

Several GMs and Masters have stated that by the time one reaches Tong
Il that the importance is not the Taekwon but rather the Do. One
should have the meanings of what TKD stands for and how one should
live (be living?).

The first of these puts Taekwon Do as a more physical with much more
practicality. The second seems to be more of an ethical understanding
of what Taekwon Do is (oh, my particular interests is ethics so I may
have clouded thinking there but I have this whole idea about
Aristotlean virtue ethics and Chang Hon Taekwon Do but I digress).

Do you know anything that I might add? Did General Choi ever talk
about Tong Il either from a practical point of view of how to perform
it? or just about the ramifications of what it stood for?

It Tong Il is indeed the totality of one's formal TKD training then is
there anything you would add to this idea? or anything that General
Choi talked about. I have access to most of the books (Master
Mitchell's, Mr. Anslow's, the encyclopedia ...et. al.). If there is
anything else that perhaps I should look into then let me know. I
have to admit that I went through the forum at Kidokwan .

I think at this point I am looking for anything that isn't in a book
or article (though please let me know of any books or articles that
you think I should read) but more of a personal reflection of Tong Il,
Chang Hon, or General Choi (in reference to Tong Il or Chang Hon).
Truth be told I would take any little of sliver of information at
this point.

I have an understanding of where this paper is going and I am down to
the crunch of writing it. However this is just the beginning of my
inquiry into this topic. I should be testing for my 2nd dan this
summer so perhaps this inquiry will take the next 20 years as I work
my way toward Tong Il. I hope you can find the time to respond.


Sincerely

Bill McMillin

B. McMillin
po box 4028
Edinburg, Tx
78540
[email protected]
 

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